The Dabistan

197

" imity, so that I was seized with trembling; and I
" heard the command:4 Proceed,' and I proceeded.
" Then came the word : ' Fear not nor be disqui-
" ' eted/ " This means: When I was initiated in the
mystery of unity, I learned that the self-existent neces-
sary Being is without the divisions of this world; I
trembled at the boldness of my journey, which had
attained such a height and distance; and I appre-
hended failing in the proof of the unity; but I heard
the words: " Come nearer ;" that is: dismiss thy
pondering, fear, and terror; for such is the proper
state of a believer in the unity of God, to be continu-
ally immersed in a spiritual ecstacy, so that he may
never fall back into the disgrace of brutishness, and
fear and hope belong to the state of brutishness.

" Moreover : I drew nearer, and upon rne came
" the blessing of the Lord, such as I never had
" heard before;" that is : I received the revelatiori,
the true words of the self-existent, necessary Being:
and his speech is not like that of creatures by letters
and sounds; no! his speech is evidence of knowledge,
by itself pure, communicating to the spirit what he
wills in a universal not a particular way.

* * Further: The command came: ' Say thy prayer:'
" I replied: I cannot; for thou art thyself such as
64 thou hast said." This means: When he was able
to-perceive the excellence of the belief in the unity of
Godj he found the truth of the words of the self-